Anemone – Movie Review

TL;DR – While the scenery is stunning, the cast is giving their all, and the themes they are exploring are quite important. Unfortunately, Anemone is a victim of the whole not being as good as the sum of its parts.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – This film contains scenes which may cause distress.

A man looking out to a storm coming in over the ocean.

Anemone Review Introduction –

Let’s be honest, there is a lot I could say here in my opening paragraph as to what made me want to watch this film. However, we all know why you are immediately captivated by this slightly odd film; it is because Daniel Day-Lewis came out of retirement to star in one more movie. No matter what else is happening, that makes it a must-watch.

So, to set the scene, we open with Jem Stoker (Sean Bean) making the long trek into the wilderness of England looking for his brother Ray Stoker (Daniel Day-Lewis). Twenty years ago, Ray left his house and his pregnant wife Nessa Stoker (Samantha Morton) to build a life in isolation. Well, now his son Brian Stoker (Samuel Bottomley) is in trouble because the absence of his father has followed him around wherever he goes, and Jem hopes that bringing Ray back to speak with Brian will stop the boy from going down a dark path.  

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She Said – Movie Review

TL;DR – Even with all the frustrating production decisions, there were still moments when it landed when it needed to.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Warning – Some scenes may cause distress

The New York Times

She Said Review

One of the most important social movements of the early 2000s has to be the ‘Me Too’ movement. This has been a moment in time exploring and exposing the silence around sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace. Every industry has had its own reckoning, including Hollywood, which is the base for the film we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, we open with a film set on the coast of Ireland as a young woman starts a job on a film set. Hard cut to London, where the same lady is running down a London street alone with tears rolling down her face. In 2016, after an expose about misconduct failed to dent President Trump’s election Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson) of The New York Times asked her journalists to integrate all the systems that project perpetrators. Two journalists, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) start on the trail of a whole system supporting the abuse of a high-profile producer in Hollywood because something is rotten in the state of Miramax and Harvey Weinstein.

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Movie Review – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

TL;DR – Is Fantastic Beasts a perfect film, no, but it is a really entertaining one, and it is a good continuation of the Harry Potter universe

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review

I came late to the whole Harry Potter universe, I didn’t read the books growing up, and in fact, I was quite old when I eventually read them all. If memory serves me correctly, I read through them all back to back, and watched all the films, in-between Deathly Hallows Part 2 being in the cinemas and when it was out on DVD. So I have always come to the Harry Potter Universe in a different manner, so for me, the books dramatically improve after that twist at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because I liked the more mature tone. But I know that for many people the opposite is true, so I was interested to see how I was going to respond to this newest entry into the Harry Potter Universe – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – The first film in this universe I got to see at the cinemas.

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